Budget-Friendly Modern White Kitchen Renovation {Home Tour}

Two years ago we finally remodeled our outdated kitchen– on a budget– so it’s probably about time to post about it, right?  {wink!} My dream was to have an updated family friendly yet modern kitchen renovation, but with two young kiddos it wasn’t feasible to DIY everything. It also wasn’t feasible to spend the budget-blowing average cost of a kitchen renovation which is around $45,000. But we found a happy medium and hired a trusted contractor and told him our plan to keep the costs under $10K (believe it or not, that included granite countertops and hardwood floors!). While it may not be my *dream* kitchen, it’s pretty darn close and we ended up with a modernized white kitchen, the renovation side only taking ten days start to finish! From what I hear, that’s very minor in terms of renovation downtime which was a huge plus since I had two toddlers on the run.

Here’s what we started with: green laminate countertops, outdated oak cabinets, and large (hard!) white tiles with dark grout lines. Those tiles were killer when my kids were learning to walk (and fall). OUCH. While tiles also show a multitude of stains and every drop that falls on the floor. The room was bright, but the colors sapped my energy.

Do your eyes hurt yet? YIKES!

Since the layout worked for us, nothing major needed to be moved which kept the costs down. We also opted to forgo “extras” such as vent hoods (we had a vent, just not a fancy hood) and pot fillers and the like. Yes, there was plenty of room for an island but we really like to all eat together at a table because counter-type seating isn’t great for the toddler crowd. We came up with a plan: paint the cabinets white, replace the countertops with granite, and replace the floors with dark hardwoods. In hindsight I would have changed the color of the granite and gotten hand-scraped style flooring to hide the scratches from my kids, but I still really do love how it turned out.

The cabinets had deep grooves in them, and our painter is such a smart guy and put caulk in each one– not to totally fill them in, but so the dark line didn’t show in the middle of the groove. We now have cabinet fronts with cool beadboard-ish texture but no dark lines. I thought that was pretty brilliant of him. It took only 3 days to paint all the cabinets. He used the best paint Sherwin Williams has in stock and gave them three coats. No removal or sanding needed. Really, what’s a $60 can of paint compared to the $5000+ it would have cost to replace the cabinets? The painting alone would have taken my husband and I a month to DIY. Money SO well spent.

As I mentioned, I wish I’d gotten countertops with a predominantly white and gray speckled pattern. However, I don’t hate our countertops– they’re very easy to clean and I never worry about staining them the way I would have with a lighter color.

The floors are something you learn in hindsight. Dark hardwood looks amazing in magazines but with kids and pets gets scratched quite a bit. The huge rug from One Kings Lane cost about $200 and protects the floor like woah.

Next on my project list is to tile the backsplash. I even have the tile picked out, I just need a few free minutes (bwahahahaha!) to do it.  I’ll admit I really do love what I have there now;  a vintage framed map and recipe card from my mom in one area:

And my mini-lobster collection in another. 😉 But a hexagon or herringbone carrera marble tile would be off the CHAIN.

That tall area next to our “pantry” is a chalkboard wall which we LOVE. We use it as a calendar, reminder area, menu planner, and doodle area for the kids. Behind it hides a pocket door to the dining room (to be revealed next week!)

Since kitchens tend to get cluttery, I kept it simple on this wall with just one family photo. It lends a feeling of “ahhhhh” and not “AHHHHHH!”

Let’s talk about this table. I almost, ALMOST compromised and got something similar that I didn’t love nearly as much. I was so close I even flagged down a salesperson at the furniture store. Thankfully I listened to my inner voice that said, “don’t compromise, get what you LOVE and not what you LIKE.”  Lo and behold, around the holidays I found this beauty online and ordered it. I’m so totally in love, and it works perfectly for my family! The white chairs are from our sunroom’s HGTV makeover and the orange chairs are cheapies from IKEA. That’s one way to pinch a penny!

Over the sink we replaced the canned lights with these awesome pendant lights that screw right into those fixtures. More details can be found in my 10 easy kitchen updates on a dime post here.

These chairs are also on the to-do list. I’d like to lighten them up and replace the seats with either oilcloth or another durable fabric. I’ll avoid showing a photo of the chair cushions because they look BRU-TAL. It’s as if my kids purposely smeared pudding and peas on them; oh wait, they probably did…

My other favorite nook is this open shelving/ kitchen cart area I semi-DIYed. However. It’s been so rainy where I live that I’ve yet to get good photos of it. I’ll leave you with this shot and I’ll break it all down in a separate post on how I managed to do it with no husband-ly intervention. With hopefully better photos. 😉

Decorating above the cabinets can get controversial. Some people say YES, DO IT! and others think, NO, THE HORROR!  I feel that when you fill a space with items that have meaning to you (and don’t let it get too clutter-y) it’s a definite YES. Plus there’s tons of hidden storage up there, WOOT.

These vintage shelves were all purchased in different places. The first came from an antique store in the Outer Banks ($9), the second from Clover Market ($18) and the third on Etsy (FREE- it broke in shipment so I was given a refund and then I pieced it together with wood glue. You can still see the breakage, but just barely).

Don’t mind me, I’m just arranging flowers for the casual dinner party about to arrive. HAHAHAHA! (styling photos can feel silly, but I do love it…)

We don’t have all that much storage since we don’t have an island and our “pantry” is extremely narrow (there is a duct behind it), so we make do with tons of hidden storage like baskets… EVERY. WHERE.

Little meaningful touches make a house a home, so my kitchen decor speaks to our lifestyle and unique things I’ve found along the way.

Our kitchen is at the end of our mirrored entryway. I love the sight lines in this open space!

Ready to see those “befores” and “afters” again?

That’s our kitchen renovation– on budget, on time, and on trend (for our family!) I know white kitchens may not be everyone’s ‘thing’, but I always preach to go with what YOU love and what works for you. And this, my friends, works for us! {yes, different chairs in this photo– these were ‘placeholders’ from the dining room until I could get more child-friendly chairs that don’t stain in here.}

The house tour continues next week with my dining room and boys’ bedroom reveal. Oh this is so FUN! Tell me what you think– white kitchens, yay or nay? Decor above cabinets, a DO or a DON’T? Major kitchen renovations on a budget, a MUST or a BUST?